


Sweet Beginnings

by astudyinfic



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alec Lightwood the disaster gay, Baker AU, M/M, Pastry School AU, meet cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-17
Updated: 2018-09-17
Packaged: 2019-07-13 09:32:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16015160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astudyinfic/pseuds/astudyinfic
Summary: Magnus didn't always want to be a baker.  But life led him to his true calling...and true love.  If they could just talk to one another.





	Sweet Beginnings

Magnus didn’t always want to be a baker.  At first, he wanted to be an actor, to be on Broadway and have everyone know who he was.  Which was all well and good but it turned out that you had to be able to sing, dance, and act to be on Broadway and Magnus could only do two of the three.  (Apparently, his singing was best kept to the shower and away from sensitive ears.) He remembered clearly the day his drama teacher gently told him that maybe he should look for other career options because it was a difficult path at the best of times.  It hurt but Magnus was grateful when people didn’t lie just to spare his feelings.

After he recovered from the bruised ego, he baked his teacher some lemon bars to show there were no hard feelings.

After that, he thought about forgetting the acting and singing part and focusing entirely on his dancing.  It had always been his true love and he knew that at least with that, he was good enough to make it. And he might have been, if not for a torn ACL his first year at NYU studying dance.  It was enough to take him out of it forever, something Magnus feared he would never get over. Dance was everything to him.

He cried his way through making several strawberry souffles and a batch of cheesecake brownies that he delivered to the surgeon and her staff that operated on him to fix what they could.  He might not be able to dance but he could still walk and run and do other things so, in the end, he was thankful for everything they did.

Life was harder after that.  With his dream crushed, Magnus didn’t know what to do with himself.  He drifted from one job to another, dropping out of NYU by the end of his freshman year.  When he finally stayed at one for more than a few days, it was a small coffee shop not far from where he once went to school.  

At first, he did everything with the bad attitude that he’d had since receiving the crushing news about his injury.  But while making coffee didn’t make him giddy with happiness, it did provide him a sort of contentment that had been missing for months.  He started working more hours, volunteering for shifts and even taking over the opening when the other barista graduated and moved on.

A passing comment from some faceless customer one morning changed the course of his life forever.  “This shop is great but what it really needs is some pastries. Make it easier for me if I didn’t have to stop one place for coffee and the other for something to eat.”

The thought never crossed Magnus’s mind before that but once the customer said it and moved on with his own day, Magnus couldn’t get the words out of his head.  When his boss arrived later, the first thing out of Magnus’s mouth was, “If I made muffins, could we sell them here?”

His boss, a middle-aged woman who opened the coffee shop on a whim smiled warmly, “I don’t see why not.  You might need to make them here. Is that a problem? We can work on getting the kitchen cleaned up for you.”  

By the next week, the shop offered three different types of muffins every day.  Magnus mixed them up and customers never knew what to expect. It became a game of sorts and the place grew even busier.  

“Have you ever considered baking full time?” his boss asked one day as they were cleaning up.  “It’s obvious you have the skill for it. You could go to culinary school and make those beautiful cakes you always see on the Food Network.”

With the idea in mind, Magnus went back to work, trying to push down his burgeoning interest but finding it impossible.  At night, he looked up various culinary schools in New York. During the day, he tested new recipes, wondering if one of these would be good enough to get him into one of those schools.  Sometimes he tried other, non-baking recipes, but none of them ever interested him the way baking did. Something about the chemistry and the exact measurements all coming together to make something unique and special.  It was what he wanted to do and it only took him several starts and stops in life to figure it out.

After applying to half a dozen pastry programs around the city, Magnus received acceptances to all of them.  His trust fund was still intact, so he used that to pay for tuition. Magnus Bane was going back to school and this time, he would succeed.  

The first few weeks were about as dull as could be.  Introductions to classes and professors, the most basic of skills, right down to the proper way to measure ingredients and choosing the right size bowl.  It was about as boring as Magnus could imagine but he never once considered giving up.

Not only because he knew this was what he wanted but because of a certain man in his classes.  

Even if he wasn’t drop-dead gorgeous, this man would have stood out.  Taller than anyone in the class, with his hat on, he seemed giant. No one could miss him, even if they wanted to.

Which Magnus certainly did not.  The man’s hazel eyes drew him in, the soft smile when he accomplished something at his station melted Magnus’s heart.  He wanted to get to know the man but he never talked to anyone. Did his work and went home without saying a word. Everyone worked on their own, so there wasn’t even a chance of being paired with him and getting to know him that way.  Magnus was at a loss.

Particularly since the other seemed interested if Magnus read the signs correctly.  Magnus caught him staring on occasion, to which the man would blush and drop his eyes almost immediately.  They always seemed to sit close, no matter where Magnus sat in the room. But that was it. The man never spoke to him and he ran away whenever Magnus approached.

So he waited, hoping his time would come eventually.  

One day in class, they had to take a basic cake recipe and make it unique to them.  It was a challenge Magnus loved and he hurried to grab some flavors that would be unexpected but he knew would work well together.  Everyone else in the class was rushing around too, some students with a clear idea and some clearly panicking.

Magnus got to work, mixing his dry ingredients together when he realized he’d forgotten baking powder.  A small thing, easy to miss in the excitement of flavors and colors and the hustle of everyone around. Leaving his station to go get the last item he needed, Magnus didn’t see there was still one student panicking, pacing back and forth in the pantry area as he tried to find whatever it was he was looking for.  

Not only did Magnus miss him, but he missed the fact that he was holding a bowl.  One filled with flour. That went flying into the air when the two men collided, covering them both in a white cloud.  Flour everywhere; in his hair, his eyes, his mouth. His clothes were coated with it and Magnus briefly considered snapping until he saw it was the hazel-eyed beauty he’d run into.

The man gaped, mouth opening and closing silently as he looked at the mess he'd created.  Not that Magnus blamed him in the least. Magnus hadn't been watching where he was going either so it wasn't fair to pin the whole thing on the other man.  

The other man who was even more gorgeous up close than Magnus had even imagined.  He smiled, uncaring about the mess. Sometimes you got dirty in the kitchen. It wasn't the end of the world.

Though, looking at the handsome specimen in front of him, Magnus could think of other ways he would prefer to get dirty.  But that thought would have to wait until later.

Eventually, the man found his tongue and started babbling, a stilted and flustered apology that probably made more sense in his head than it did as he said it.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, hands flailing a bit as if he wanted to brush the flour off but couldn't decide if it was appropriate or not.  "I didn't... I mean, I was trying... I..." The man looked devastated and Magnus couldn't help but take pity on him. It was painful to see such a sad look on such a beautiful face.  

As he was about to tell him it was okay and maybe he could take Magnus out for drinks sometime to make up for it, the man groaned and ran his hand through his hair.  "By the angel, now you'll never go out with me." Magnus's eyes lit up right as the other's eyes went wide with fear and disbelief. "Oh god," he muttered before running from the room, bowl still in hand and trailing a cloud of flour behind him.  

Magnus rolled his eyes and went to get a dustpan.  Better to get the mess cleaned up and then he would go find the other and see if he really did want to go out.

The eyes of the rest of the class were on him and Magnus had to restrain himself from shrinking back from their stares.  Not for his own sake but for the other man's. He didn't seem like one who liked the spotlight so Magnus wanted to make himself as unobtrusive as possible so that when they finally went out, he wouldn't feel like all eyes were on them both.  

Once the spill was cleaned up, Magnus went to explain everything to the professor.  "Would you mind if the two of us made this up after class? I have flour in my eyes and would really like to get cleaned up so I don't throw off the measurements with whatever might fly off my clothes."  A weak excuse but one the professor accepted, much to Magnus's delight. He straightened up his station and slipped from the room, at least wanting to find the other to explain to him that they would be able to make up the assignment.  And finally, ask him out.

He hadn't gotten far, leaning against a wall just outside the test kitchens.  "There you are, darling," Magnus purred, moving to stand beside him. "You ran away before I could say anything."

"Please don't," the man groaned, scrubbing his hands over his face.  "I really don't need to hear what a disaster I am from you. I hear it from my siblings all the time.  This is just the latest in a long line of examples that I am sure will be thrown back at me whenever they see fit."

"They never need to know," Magnus assured him.  "But what I really wanted to say was that you didn't need to apologize.  I was just as much at fault as you were. I could have watched where I was going but I didn't so don't feel like you have to shoulder all the blame yourself."  The man finally dropped his hands and looked over at Magnus with a small, yet warm, smile. "Everything is already cleaned up and you and I are going to make up the assignment after class, so no harm, no foul."

"That's good then."  The man looked back down for a moment and Magnus just watched, not sure if that was all he was going to say or if there was more to come.  It took a moment before the man rolled his shoulders back and turned to look at Magnus. "My name is Alec. I'm really sorry I threw flour on you and then ran away, leaving you to clean it up."

Magnus grinned and held out his hand to shake. "I'm Magnus.  I'm sorry I ran into you and then let you run away before I could ask you out properly."  

The man - Alec - took Magnus's hand to shake but froze the moment their palms touched.  "Wait. Are you making fun of me? You don't have to ask me out just because I said something stupid."

Chuckling, Magnus shook his head, "Trust me, darling, I don't ask people out for things like that.  I've been trying to ask you out for weeks but you are a difficult man to get alone. So, will you go out with me?"

He watched an impossible array of emotions flicker over Alec's face before it settled into a wide grin.  "You really want to go out with me?"

"Alexander.  You are gorgeous, talented, and obviously very sweet.  Why wouldn't I want to go out with you?" The fact that Alec didn't see what a catch he was worried Magnus.  Surely this man should have suitors knocking down his door. And if not, it was their loss because if Magnus got to call Alec his, he doubted he would ever let him go.

Alec didn't look convinced.  "Because I've been avoiding you for weeks because of how beautiful you are and I was afraid I would make a fool of myself.  And then when we did meet, I covered you in flour from head to toe."

"Yes, you may have done that but I think I can make this look good don't you?" Magnus joked striking a pose and relaxing when he heard Alec laugh.  "Honestly, darling, you don't need to feel bad. We are in pastry school. Flour explosions are bound to happen. And if it leads to the two of us talking and maybe even going out on a date, then I will never complain about it.  Ever."

Alec's smile was all Magnus needed to know that he'd said the right thing.  "So, you really want to go on a date with me?" His eyes were shining and bright and Magnus wanted to kiss him right then and there.  

Instead, he reached out and took Alec's hand.  "You have no idea how much I want that. My poor friends have had to listen to me whine about not being able to ask you out since we basically started here.  They will be so relieved until they realize that now all I'm going to talk about is our date and the hot guy who agreed to go out with me."

The two stared at one another, holding hands and just being close for the rest of the class period, both jumping when the classes around them let out and suddenly the halls were filled with students.  

Magnus blinked, brought back to reality and reluctantly dropped Alec's hand.  "Well, Alexander, we have a couple cakes to make. Ready to go in there and get to work?  We can see who makes the best cake."

"A competition?  You're on."

The two of them grinned at each other and while Magnus wasn't sure who moved first, they were both on their way to class, ready to prove which one was the best.  Whoever won that particular competition, Magnus was sure that there would be many more to come. Just like their date, this was the start of something sweet.

 

**Author's Note:**

> It has been pointed out that this is fic 17k in the tag. And I know it wasn't what everyone wanted and I know some people are mad at me for "stealing" it. So, I am sorry to those who are disappointed. It was a silly little fic I wrote for fun and posted with the assumption it wouldn't become a BIG FUCKING DEAL in the fandom. I was wrong. 
> 
> Someone change the date on their fic and take the number if that is what you want. It doesn't matter to me. Never did.


End file.
